The Legend of Zelda
by chabialonso
Summary: When peril prepares to strike, a hero must rise to meet the challenge. But what happens when the days of heroes are long gone? This of course is a rather bad title. Doesn't suggest much. But as the story progresses I'll change it.


hey y'all! (:  
This is my first fanfic in like, forever (and the first I've considered not-bad-enough-to-not-be-published). ZeldaZeldaZelda. YAY.  
So, umm, yeah. This chapter isn't really necessary for the story in itself, but I thought I'd include it anyway. It basically describes the geography of Hyrule. It's mostly OoT/TP style, but I've made it exponentially bigger. Because I always thought of it as huge. To give you an idea, it basically takes twelve hours on Epona to cross Faron Province South to North (NOTE: ALL of it, from the bridge to Orda to Hyrule Castle, NOT just Hyrule Field). I also included Lon-Lon Ranch because I like cowboys and Kasuto because Hyrule needs lots of settlements.  
Point is, don't read this chapter if you don't want to.

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The Kingdom of Hyrule

**The** land of Hyrule is a pleasant land. It encompasses most of the south-westernmost of all the Mortal Lands, which means it is completely surrounded by the Sea, except for the Northeast, where the Death Mountain Range separates it from the rest of the world. It is quite a hilly country, with a mountainous North and a wooded South. To the Northwest is a cold, forested land, south of which the ancient Gerudo Desert lies. In the Northeast, as has been said, is Death Mountain Range; and directly south of it are mostly fields and little rivers until it meets up with the southern woods. All these features serve as natural barriers to the central plain, where lies the Castle Town.

By some favor of the Gods, in the midst of this plain, runs the Zora's River, an ancient river that runs quite deep. It has run for so long there, that is has carved smooth walls of stone that at one point branch off to meet again. In that very well separated island the ancient Hylians established their capital city, which to this day remains, though it has grown so large that it extends beyond the island. This new section is protected by a wall, about seven meters tall. There are three gates that permit entrance to Castle Town; in the South, the East, and the West. There is no gate to the North, because the town has not expanded in that direction; there lies Hyrule Castle.

It sometimes helps the geography student with no map handy to think of Hyrule as a great square. In the center and to the right (or East) lies Castle Town. To the right and up, in the foothills of Death Mountain, is the village of Kakariko. It was founded long ago, about twenty years after Castle Town, by a nomad tribe that settled mostly in the mountains that would lie in the top (North) of the square. These people are the Shadow Folk, called by the Hylians 'Sheikah'. Where they come from is not really known, for no trace of Sheikah settlements can be found in their ancient homeland. But for reasons of language, as well as body, they must be akin to the Hylians; they speak a dialect quite similar, and they alone possess the same pointed ears of the Hylians, and an equally large aptitude for what we call magic.

I suppose the Hylians need to be described. They are generally tall, many surpassing two meters of height. They are of light skin, most with fair hair, though russets and auburns are not uncommon. Their eyes are far seeing, colored blue or green or even violet, but seldom black, brown, or hazel. Their curious distinguishing feature is the ear; it is generally long and pointed, without lobes. Long ago it was said that they used these ears to hear the messages of the Gods. The Sheikah, on the other hand, have several distinctive qualities from the Hylians: they are almost exclusively fair-haired, with an occasional silver-haired one among them, and their skin is golden-tinged, as from the sun. What truly sets them apart is their eyes, which are always colored crimson.

Apart from these people and these settlements, Hyrule is quite varied. Directly North of Castle Town is the source where Zora's River is born; a great waterfall, called the Sleepless Waterfall, in the midst of the mountains. The pool where this waterfall itself is born is the home of the eponym of the River, the Zoras. Their realm, Zora's Domain, is mainly river-filled caverns where the River is born. The Zoras themselves are a proud people. They are human-like in shape, but have fins along their calves and their forearms. Their skin is blue-grey, although it is not known if they have true skin. Some say that they are scaled like fish. Their eyes, in any case, have no pupils, and are mostly violet, though some Zoras have green eyes as well, and unlike fishes' eyes, theirs are lidded. Few of the denizens of Hyrule have seen them, for they seldom leave their Domain, which is open only to the Royal Family of Hyrule and its select messengers. More often than not a Zora can be seen swimming in Lake Hylia down to the underwater Temple, where the water spirits are worshipped. The Zoras speak a language apart, unrelated to any in the Kigdom of Hyrule, and few have ever even heard it, for all Zora are accomplished in Hylian.

Due East is Death Mountain Range, where lies Kakariko. The highest peak of the range is Death Mountain, an active volcano. The surrounding mountains are filled with a series of tunnels that act as the home of the Goron people. Like the Zoras, they are a people apart, though not as proud as the Zoras. They are quite large, a grown Goron capable of being seven meters tall (and only a few less wide). Mostly, though, they average on three meters tall, one-and-a-half wide. Their skins are rough, colored like the mountain rock, and indeed on their backs one can see a growth of rock. Their faces are round, small, and earnest. Their mouths are long, with thick lips, apt to laughing, and their noses are barely nostrils. Their eyes seem to smile continually, and are always a dark color, somewhat purplish in the sunlight which they do not often see. The Gorons are natural merchants, and one often sees a Goron shop in Castle Town's market area. Their delight, though, is in mining and wrestling, and Gorons are far stronger than any other of the peoples of Hyrule.

In the southern forests there is a small hamlet called Ordon, the smallest settlement in Hyrule. It is a quiet town that developed around a small ranch. Its people are called Hyruleans properly. They are most like us of all the peoples of Hyrule, right down to the rounded, often lobed ears. They seem to possess small craft in magic, and are for the most part much more rural than Hylians. Ordonians in themselves are a quiet people, like their sleepy village. They mostly work the earth, and they are known across the kingdom for their goat milk and the cheese made from it. Of things produced by the earth, nowhere in the kingdom are there pumpkins like the ones grown in Ordon.

To the West of Ordon lies a vast, wooded plain, mostly unsettled. Further West is the infamous Desert, home of the Gerudo Thieves. The Gerudo are more like the Hyruleans than anything else, and they can have children with Hylians, Hyruleans, or Sheikah. What makes them different is that they are almost always women. They are beautiful women, with suntanned olive skin, amber eyes and red hair, which they usually wear in a pony tail, with a jewel adorning it. Few Gerudo ever cut their hair short. They are known world-over for their thieving skills, to make up for a complete lack in magical prowess, and for being completely intolerant of men of any kind. Legends claim that a man is born to them every hundred years, and he is destined to be a great man. Such is Ganondorf, but his name is not oft spoken in Hyrule, or even the Desert; for he was greatly evil. Perhaps there is truth to the urban legend that they go to Castle Town to seek men to give them children. Surely enough, no Gerudo is ever in a whorehouse for more than a night and never in their lives in the same one twice.

Across the Desert, to the North, is an uninhabited forest, east of which are the snowcapped mountains of the Snowpeak Range. Few creatures live in this Range; mostly White Wolfos and Ice Keese. It is rumored that a pair of Yeti live in an abandoned mansion that once belonged to the Royal Family. Of course, the ones brave enough to venture to the peak, so as to confirm or deny the rumors, are not smart enough to realize how deadly the mountain really is.

East of Snowpeak Range is the Zora's Domain. But South of it is a vast hilly land wherein is the town of Kasuto, near the borders of lake Hylia. Kasuto is inhabited by Hylians, Hyruleans, and Sheikah. Zoras never go there, and few Gorons or Gerudo ever set up shop in that town. It is larger than Kakariko, but not as large as Castle Town. Kasuto is often called "the Golden", because it stone walls glisten so in the sun. In a town such as this was born the youth Link, and his deeds are often sung all across Hyrule; even in the Gerudo Desert, where he is of the few men to have gained trust.

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I probably should have mentioned before that my descriptions can be long-winded or boring, at times. Oh well.  
(:


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